Hayley Atwell, star of ABC’s Marvel drama series Agent Carter, has been tapped as the lead of another ABC drama project, legal drama Conviction, where Atwell’s character coincidentally is also named Carter. (That will likely change.) The Mark Gordon Co. is producing with ABC Studios.

Agent Carter, now in its second cycle, is drawing pretty modest ratings and does not look likely for a Season 3 pickup. In case of a series order for Conviction and an improbable renewal of the Marvel drama, ABC sources indicate there is a scenario in which she could possibly do both shows, potentially both as limited runs. But Atwell’s casting as the lead of a new project by the same network and studio indicate that Agent Carter is probably going away, and they want to keep its star on its roster of leading ladies.

Co-created by Liz Friedman (Marvel’s Jessica Jones), who wrote the script, and Liz Friedlander (The Following), who will direct the pilot, Conviction tells the story of Carter Morrison (Atwell), the brilliant but ne’er-do-well daughter of a former President, who is blackmailed into taking a job as the head of Los Angeles’ newly created Conviction Integrity Unit. She, along with her team of lawyers, investigators and forensic experts, work together to examine cases where there’s credible suspicion that the wrong person may have been convicted of a crime.

Mark Gordon and Nick Pepper of The Mark Gordon Co., which is a lead studio on the project, also executive produce.

In addition to starring on ABC’s Agent Carter, British-born Atwell has been featured as Agent Peggy Carter in four Marvel universe feature films: Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Avengers: Age Of Ultron and most recently Ant-Man.

Golden Globe nominee Atwell, who also co-starred in Cinderella, is repped by CAA and Christian Hodell at Hamilton Hodell in the UK.

21 Comments

AGENT CARTER is, if not the best show on TV right now, at least the most fun. I would love a third season.

Stephanie S • on Feb 11, 2016 4:04 pm

Absolutely agree! I think it’s one of the strongest shows with humor, drama, fun action and true character development. Most shows seem to think there is no need to understand or relate to the characters; they just take it for granted that we will watch.

John Whorfin • on Feb 10, 2016 10:00 am

Atwell is an extraordinary talent. Super smart move by ABC.

Lucky • on Feb 10, 2016 10:02 am

Sounds interesting. I love Agent Carter and would love to see it continue, but I’ll watch Hayley in anything.

I have the feeling that Agent Carter is getting shopped to Netflix at this very moment.

Anonymous • on Feb 10, 2016 10:09 am

This is exciting news for Hayley but I sure do hope that ABC will renew Agent Carter for another season! It’s not always easy to find such a strong B.A. women entertaining enough on television or film and this show was great to get that fix! I love Agent Carter because the Actors make such unbelievable events and things seem so believable and all the characters are great together! I love this season of how they are showing two very different strong/smart women (Carter & Frost) in an unusual time to see such women and how they got there and what makes them truly who they are (especially last week’s episode)!

If this show does get ordered to season I would at least watch the first few episodes just because I think Hayley is such a fantastic actor in all the roles in have seen her in, but in an ideal world she would do both!

Please ABC let Agent Carter have at least one more season!

Anonymous • on Feb 10, 2016 10:33 am

Agent Carter is my favorite show, if this article’s assumptions are correct then I’ll be very sad to see it end after this season. I sincerely hope the show will be renewed.

Happy for Atwell to get more work of course, but I love watching Peggy Carter kick ass every week!

K • on Feb 10, 2016 10:48 am

Agent Carter is my favorite show on TV. I’m going to be so bummed if it doesn’t get renewed.

Don’t forget that ABC, Marvel and–yes–the Muppets are all owned by Disney, so it matters not if the ratings are modest, because there’s payoff down the line in merchandising and crossovers. (They’re not making CARS 3 because there were so many unanswered questions from 1 and 2.) So I wouldn’t write off CARTER just yet. And in any event, it’s not unusual for actors to manage two shows at once–Jane Lynch being the most recent–especially if neither goes the full 22.

Will • on Feb 10, 2016 1:02 pm

Can’t Marvel go to Netflix and see about a Season 3 if nothing else? I mean, I assume they’d want to stay in the Marvel business..